The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power

Written by Jacob Helberg

Narrated by Jesse Einstein

From the former news policy lead at Google, an “informative and often harrowing wake-up call” (Publishers Weekly) that explains the high-stakes global cyberwar brewing between Western democracies and the authoritarian regimes of China and Russia that could potentially crush democracy.

From 2016 to 2020, Jacob Helberg led Google’s global internal product policy efforts to combat disinformation and foreign interference. During this time, he found himself in the midst of what can only be described as a quickly escalating two-front technology cold war between democracy and autocracy.

On the front-end, we’re fighting to control the software—applications, news information, social media platforms, and more—of what we see on the screens of our computers, tablets, and phones, a clash which started out primarily with Russia but now increasingly includes China and Iran. Even more ominously, we’re also engaged in a hidden back-end battle—largely with China—to control the internet’s hardware, which includes devices like cellular phones, satellites, fiber-optic cables, and 5G networks.

This tech-fueled war will shape the world’s balance of power for the coming century as autocracies exploit 21st-century methods to redivide the world into 20th-century-style spheres of influence. Without a firm partnership with the government, Silicon Valley is unable to protect democracy from the autocrats looking to sabotage it from Beijing to Moscow and Tehran. Helberg offers “unnervingly convincing evidence that time is running out in the ‘gray war’ with the enemies of freedom” (Kirkus Reviews) which could affect every meaningful aspect of our lives, including our economy, our infrastructure, our national security, and ultimately, our national sovereignty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781797132723

Jacob Helberg

Jacob Helberg is a senior adviser at the Stanford University Center on Geopolitics and Technology and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Helberg is also the cochair of the Brookings Institution China Strategy Initiative. From 2016 to 2020, Helberg led Google’s internal global product policy efforts to combat disinformation and foreign interference, including policy and enforcement processes against state-backed foreign interference, misinformation, and actors undermining election integrity. Helberg studied international affairs at The George Washington University and received his master of science in cybersecurity risk and strategy from New York University. 

Reviews for The Wires of War

[Sandra Harvey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant book. A difficult subject easily explained by the author. As a 'brit' i would appreciate a European perspective on this subject. It gave, what felt like a balanced view of the grey war and the countries involved. Thank you for writing this book.

[Einsoph · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book reads like a radical leftist tract for an editorial rag and not an objective book! The left “liberal” ideology is increasingly acquiring all the features of a fascist totalitarian state. The author argues incessantly for censorship, a cornerstone of all fascism and communism that in history has led to hundreds of millions shot in the head. For example, the author says, “Twitter attached a GENTLE fact check to a tweet from Donald Trump; the President issued a legally QUESTIONABLE [response].” We all know now that it was not “gentle” nor a “fact check” but the total censorship of a sitting President, that has now led to Soviet-like show trials that only happen in places like the former Soviet Union. The author also argues for re-education of those who some arbiter of truth decides centrally don’t have the correct thinking, like Orwell’s MiniTruth. If the woefully ignorant author has his Faustian way, such systems in history have killed people who wrote long homosexual monologues like this author did in this book that was totally irrelevant to the topic, or constantly referring to his husband, also irrelevant to this book. The author knows not what he does, or the end result of his thinking. He is very shallow in his thinking, reading, and knowledge. His only real experience is working at Google. He is correct about the threat from China, but incorrect about everything else. Two of hundreds of examples: He says “89% of startups say they were able to successfully raise capital in 2019.” That is a tautology! It is true by nature of the logic that they wouldn’t be a startup if they were not able to successfully raise capital; they would only be an idea—believe me I know from experience in founding six corporations. Instead ask the millions of people running around Silicon Valley with ideas and business plans that can change the world yet can’t find any capital. I have been in those huge crowds and I do not know one who has found the elusive capital. Another: The author argues that Russian hackers and trolls stole the election for Trump. That theory has been completely debunked and discredited—the Russians were only interested in causing chaos on both sides, which results in stupid people like this author pushing totalitarian, Faustian ideas, that in turn leads to further division of the people, and what history has shown follows.

[DiannaJohnson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

GARBAGE. LIBERAL GARBAGE. SPEWED BY THE VERY GARBAGE MAKERS HE'S CLAIMING TO FIGHT FOR! He IS a garbage maker. Like HITLER said about propoganda.. Tell a lie often enough and people start to believe it.